‘Rick and Morty’ Creators Explain Why They Went With an April Fools’ Day Premiere

At San Diego Comic-Con, Yahoo TV welcomed the cast and crew of Rick and Morty into our suite and chatted with them about the surprise season premiere on April Fools’ Day. Justin Roiland, who stars as both Rick and Morty in addition to his duties as writer and series co-creator, explained that it had been in the works for a while.

“That was a long time ago that that was brought up,” Roiland said. “We were in the thick of Season 3 when that got pitched, and I remember my initial reaction was, ‘That’s a horrible idea.’ I mean, I came around pretty quick.”

Of course, to make the surprise work, they had to keep knowledge of the premiere to only the essential people. “It could not be leaked,” Roiland said. “So, I think we had somewhere around six people [who knew]. There’s people at Adult Swim who had to know about it in order for it to happen.”

“It’s not the first time a network has said, ‘I have an idea — what if we don’t promote your show’s premiere,'” mused executive producer and series co-creator Dan Harmon. “I’ve heard that before, but this was the first time it was actually earnest.”

Check out the cast of Rick and Morty reviewing Etsy products based on their show: